How The 2019 Grammys Failed 21 Savage On One Of Music’s Biggest Stages

Although Post Malone performed “Rockstar,” his chart-topping smash featuring 21 Savage during Sunday’s Grammy celebration, obviously, 21 wasn’t present to perform his verse on the song. The since-freed artist, born Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was incarcerated in a detention center after being detained by ICE two weeks ago. He was reportedly detained because he’s from the British Commonwealth of Dominica and apparently, his 2017 application for a U Visa wasn’t processing fast enough. So the Atlanta-based rapper wasn’t able to be at the Grammys in the physical sense, but there were still plenty of opportunities for him to be a symbolic presence — unfortunately, the “Rockstar” performance came and went without Post Malone so much as mentioning him. And Post wasn’t the only person who dropped the ball.

21 was mentioned just once throughout the two-hour ceremony, despite being a star artist whose I Am > I Was album just debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. He was also nominated for Record Of The Year for his appearance on “Rockstar.” Neither host Alicia Keys or the award winners (save “This Is America” producer Ludwig Göransson) mentioned him. There was no segment where his Atlanta music brethren — or any of his rap peers — showed solidarity with him. 21’s mother Heather Abraham-Joseph was having such a hassle getting tickets to the ceremony that she ultimately didn’t attend, a predicament that once again highlights the Grammy committee’s tone-deafness and apathy toward hip-hop.

Sunday night was a prime opportunity for someone at the show to highlight 21’s plight as an opening to present a political statement against ICE’s unjust treatment of undocumented people of color. But no one cared to enough to seize the moment. At the 2017 Grammys, during A Tribe Called Quest medley, Busta Rhymes railed at President Trump, calling the cartoonishly tanned-in-chief “President Agent Orange.” That phrase has stuck in pop culture as a shot at Trump, not only exemplifying hip-hop’s power as a political catalyst but the benefit of making a statement on a big stage.

The Grammys are watched by millions around the world, which makes it a prime place to amplify political statements. ICE currently has a record high 39,000+ people indefinitely detained at their detention centers, including, until today, one of the music industry’s brightest stars.

Post Malone bore a significant brunt of the blame for not mentioning 21 at all during the Grammys. Yes, he wore a 21 Savage shirt to the ceremony, but it wasn’t actually visible, and by the end of the show, there were many viewers on social media who called him out for the cognitive dissonance of performing his most commercially successful song without referencing the song’s other featured artist. The moment has become another strike against Post, a polarizing figure in hip-hop who has faced a backlash from the Black community for what many perceive to be culturally appropriative music and disappointing comments about rap lacking emotional range.